Roy Heatherly, the former publisher of The Jackson Sun has taken on a new role as president of the Monroe, La., Chamber of Commerce. Roy visited with Grace Media Group for a question and answer session to discuss his time in Jackson, the decline of the newspaper industry and a new direction in his life.

Question: First, a little background information. Where are you originally from, family, education?

Answer: I lived in St. Louis until the fifth grade, which started a life long love of the St. Cardinals, then moved to Wichita, Kansas, where I graduated high school.

I have a wonderful sister. The day after I graduated, my parents moved back to Jackson. They had lived here in the early 1950’s. I ended up at Kansas University – College Basketball’s 2022 NCAA National Champions – in a journalism sequence, Radio, TV Film.

I started coming to Jackson in the summers and on breaks working at Volunteer Janitorial Supply digging pools and driving a truck.

After I graduated, I was blessed to get a job at The Jackson Sun and the rest is history. I met Beth (Garland), we fell in love and we got married at Forest Heights United Methodist Church. Paul Clayton did our service.

All three of our children were born in Jackson. Funny story, during my senior at KU I needed some credits – I was behind. I had a two week internship at WDXI under their news director Tom Britt.

Because of Tom, I got the credits I needed which helped me graduate – I still kid him about getting me through college.

Question: Locals will remember when you served as president, publisher of The Jackson Sun, but some may not remember you had two stints with The Sun.

Would you give us some insight into your time at Jackson’s newspaper?

Answer: I actually started as a volunteer in March of 1980. David Barton and Bob Vornbrock had no openings, so they let me make cold calls on non-active advertisers. If I sold them, I got $50. I think by the end of the first week I had made $500.

They told me it was cheaper to hire me, so they did. I spent 11 years at the Sun that time and worked my way up to Advertising Director.

I always wanted to be publisher of The Jackson Sun – my No. 1 career goal. Gannett said I had to move to make that happen. In late 1990, they moved us to Monroe, Louisiana.

We fell in love with Monroe and decided we wanted to raise our children there. After 17 years in Monroe my youngest graduated and headed to LSU. At that point GOD opened the door for Beth and I to come back as the publisher of the Sun. I absolutely loved every single minute of it, and love Jackson.

Question: The newspaper industry is not as healthy as it once was. Could you give us your take on the decline?

Answer: I could talk hours on this. The answer is simple. The industry is where it is at because of bad, greedy and misguided leadership. When newspapers introduced their digital and social media products they had the best of all worlds.

A credible news operation that could then compete 24/7. The recession was a bump but some bad leaders decided at that time to raise rates, gut the printed product and cut customer service – then had the audacity to say that no one, especially young people read newspapers. BALONEY!

Then they continued to whittle down their operations and staff’s while wearing the First Amendment on their sleeves. To me it was hypocritical and outrageous.

The men and women I worked with in this industry loved what they did and took it very seriously. The loser in all of this is Jackson, Monroe and all the markets who lost their watchdog, their voice and their history books.

I would be happy to talk more on this at another time.

Question: How long have you been serving as president of the Chamber of Commerce in Monroe, La., and what brings you to Jackson?

Answer: I have been back in Monroe for 13 months. I love this job and this market. During my time in Jackson I served on the Chamber board. Kyle Spurgeon – who is the absolute best Community Champion I ever met and is a very close, close friend – began to coach and mentor me.

Jackson and Monroe are similar markets. I introduced Kyle to our wonderful (Monroe) Mayor Friday Ellis, a true game changer, about a month ago when Kyle came to Monroe for a visit.

Jackson is doing a lot of great things and Kyle invited us up to take a look, so here we are. I do want to mention how blessed Jackson and West Tennessee is to have Kyle, Mandy (White), Ryan (Porter), Russell (Cook) and the rest of the team at the Chamber.

If you look around Jackson/West Tennessee and all the great things going on here, you will see your Chamber in the middle and leading the way. They truly love what they do – and this area. Jackson is on fire and the Chamber is a huge part of the reason.

Question: How is Monroe, La., handling the economic downturn that is being felt nationally?

Answer: We are very resilient. Monroe doesn’t have swings too much either way. Our biggest challenge, like most markets, is workforce. We can’t fill the openings we currently have.

Question: Is the downturn affecting your recruiting of business and industry for Monroe?

Answer: No, not really. Monroe, West Monroe and Ouachita Parish are on the verge of some great things. You can see a collaboration and an effort from many new leaders like Mayor Ellis, Mayor Mitchell in West Monroe, Shane Smiley, Dr. Berry at ULM and Dr. Esters at Louisiana Delta.

Mayor Ellis has laid a great foundation over the last two years for Monroe.

Our time is now, and we are making the most of it.

(PHOTO: Roy Heatherly)